what is your topic again?

my topic is the successes of the 'Ndrangheta on local and international level in the past 2 decades...

...but the chapter I'm writing is on violence theory

Does this subject has risks for you?

only if I decide to do some expert-interviews in southern italy

And in case your thesis might be interesting for the press?

keep up the good work, Julian!

it's not really risky, marguerite, there's more scientific publications on the mafia than one would expect

probably because you can only write about things that are already known about them, it would be different if you would publish their secrets

I see

The violence theory is the theoretical part of the thesis on which your conclusions are based together with the other chapters?

yes, violence theory is the main theoretical concept behind it, but there'll be a few more specific theories to base the various...

...chapters on...like there's theories about the expansion of criminal organizations, about the relations between state and mafia and so on

there a limit to the number of pages for a thesis?

from what I know there is none...but from how I know me I will have to struggle to keep it below 150 pages

a colleague has just finished his thesis of 200 pages, but I've seen many around 100-120

Thought so. The more theories, the more pages.

yes, and my writing style usually makes papers longer...not because I write useless stuff, it's just a question of style

Then your conclusions will be a large chapter. Probably the bibliography too.

I suppose many conclusions will be partly included in the various chapters, so the final chapter might just recapitulate the whole thing...

...but the bibliography could be long...I just try to ignore this for now, as it means I have to read and read and read and read on

How about footnotes?

for bibliographical references? I could choose between footnotes or reference in parentheses within the text...I always choose footnotes...

...I think it allows a better reading flow

I think so too. But explaining theories always demands footnotes. The more theories, the more footnotes, I think.

A problem of a thesis is: can you include conclusions in the various chapters, or do you put all the relevant facts in them?

And repeat them while concluding in the last chapter?

I currently have about 3-4 footnote references per page, in average, I think that's about fine and neither under- nor overloaded

concerning the conclusions...well, I guess it depends on the methodological approach; if you are trying to prove a theory you will need to

...make a clearer distinction between theoretical, empirical and conclusion part

...if, as in my case, the topic is based on a comparative approach, the theories are mostly directly applied, so this distinction is less

...important and the conclusions are directly included in the work-in-progress

so the final chapter just recapitulates the main results of the whole study

I see. It looks logical to me with a comparative approach.